ITEC purchase moves forward

North Central Pennsylvania Regional Planning and Development Commission [NCPRPDC] Executive Director Eric Bridges, left, discusses the sale of the Industrial Technical Education Center [ITEC] facility along Montmorenci Road in Ridgway to Elk County for $1.5 million. Next to him is Joe DeMott, a McKean County commissioner and chairman of the commission's executive board of directors. Photo by Joseph Bell.

North Central Pennsylvania Regional Planning and Development Commission [NCPRPDC] officials voted Wednesday morning to proceed with the sale of the Industrial Technical Education Center [ITEC] facility along Montmorenci Road in Ridgway to Elk County for $1.5 million.
The facility is to house the county's new 911 Center. The current facility, a one-story transformed ranch house situated along Boot Jack Road in Ridgway Township, has several shortfalls and county officials found through various studies from independent consulting firms that it would be more cost-effective and beneficial to county taxpayers to move the 911 Center to the ITEC facility rather than upgrade the current facility or rebuild.
"There are a lot of things that went into these discussions such as maintenance, janitorial cleaning, there's quite a lot of different things," said Elk County Commissioner Daniel R. Freeburg. "Use of the existing tower here will already save us half a million dollars, things like that. It's quite complex and we're saving a lot of money with the existing furniture already in the building. If there would be an auction like they did at the townhouse, things can go for nothing and my stance was that we want them really cheap.
"We had to go back and forth on this project, but it has panned out."